Chapter 8

While the captain and reindeer fight on against the tyrant king, Sanji slowly wakes up to see that he's in Rose's wind hold as she's taking him to the infirmary. "Rose-chan?! What happened?"

"You passed out after Dr. Kureha kicked your back to put your spine back in place. Luffy and Chopper are outside taking care of Wapol and Chessmarimo."

Sanji widens his eyes at this before he struggles in her wind. "Please put me down. I have to fight too."

Rose shakes her head as she keeps going. "Sorry Sanji, but you've done enough. Besides, you wouldn't want leave Nami all alone in the infirmary would you?"

Sanji freezes at the question concerning his favorite crewmate before he shakes his head. "Of course not! Lead the way!"

She nods as opens the door to the infirmary to see Nami out of bed with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders.

Nami jolts when the door opened, but she calms down when she sees Rose and Sanji at the door. "What are you two doing here?"

Rose points to Sanji while she keeps him floating. "Sanji dislocated his spine from fighting too much, so I'm bringing him in here to rest. What are you doing out of bed?"

"We're escaping, we can't stay here for three days. Vivi's worried enough about Alabasta as it is."

Rose quietly sighs. "I understand where you're coming from, but shouldn't we wait until the fight's over?"

Nami shakes her head as she walks out of the room. "No way, now's the perfect time while that crazy hag's distracted. Please help me, I feel completely fine now."

Sanji eagerly nods. "Of course, I'll do everything I can to assist you."

Rose sweat drops at the declaration from the injured man before she quietly sighs. "Alright, then let's-"

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO MY CASTLE?! WHY IS THERE SNOW EVERYWHERE?!"

Rose, Nami and Sanji widen their eyes at Wapol's voice before Rose throws Sanji onto the bed.

Sanji groans at the pain in his back from the throw while Rose turns to Nami and starts pushing her into the room while she whispers to her. "Quick, get inside and hide!"

The redhead doesn't listen as she grips the edges of the doorway to stop Rose from pushing her in. "Are you crazy?! Why do I-?!"

"Now what's this wind girl? Another friend of yours and Straw Hat's?" Both girls pause at the question and look down from the railing to see Wapol smirking up at them.

*So that's why she was trying to get me in the room…* Nami gulps before she waves her hand dismissively. "Who are you talking about? I don't know them."

Rose nods while she shifts her eyes everywhere and nervously smiles at him. "Y-yea, I don't know her at all… S-she's got nothing to do with Luffy and his crew…"

Nami widens her eyes at the terrible lie she just heard and sees that she's being serious. *You gotta be kidding me… She's almost as bad of a liar as Luffy…*

Wapol blinks at the lie and looks at them in confusion. "Really?"

Nami blinks in surprise at him believing before she nods. "Yea, I'm just passing by. You two know each other right? I'll leave you two alone then."

Rose eagerly nods as she waves her off. "See ya stranger…"

Wapol nods before he climbs up the pillar causing Rose and Nami to make a run for it with Wapol pursuing.

"YOU REALLY THINK I'D FALL FOR THAT CRAP?!"

Sanji widens his eyes at the yelling as he tries to get out of the bed but he collapses from the pain in back. "Shit, if he lays one finger on either of them I'll slice him and roast him!" He slowly crawls towards the door while the chase is going on in the hallways.

Wapol starts smirking at the girls as he starts gaining up on them. "You won't get away from me!"

"We'll see about that!" Rose looks back as they run down the stairs and gets ready to use her wind when Wapol tried to follow, but he's too big to get through the small hole leading to the stairway.

Both girls stop to see that he's stuck in the floor and they sweat drop at the sight.

Wapol groans in frustration as he struggles to free himself. "Dammit, I'm stuck! I've been eating too much. Only one thing left to do."

The girls widen their eyes in horror when they see him pull his lower lip over his face and starts eating the rest of his body to get himself out of the hole.

Rose goes to grab a spear from the wall while Nami watches the man eating himself until there's nothing left but his chin. "What is he?!"

"That's a very good question. My bet's on a cannibal." Rose manages to grab the spear from the wall when Wapol rearranges his body then reappears as a tall, skinny version of himself.

"You two can't get away from me now!" Wapol runs after the girls with him gaining on them by the second.

Just before Wapol can tackle Nami, Rose jumps to hit him on the back of the head as hard as she can with the blunt side of the spear to knock him down right next to Nami.

The redhead looks at him in shock, then jumps back to see Wapol standing up furiously. "I've had enough of you wind girl! You'll be the first to die!"

He charges at Rose who's getting in a stance. Before she can do anything though, Luffy runs in and stretches his leg to kick Wapol in the face to send him flying.

Rose blinks in surprise as she watches Wapol fly into the wall and lowers her guard. *Aw man, I was about to do that. Oh well, I got some good hits on the asshole so I'm happy. Chopper should have taken care of Chessmarimo by now too.*

Luffy looks at the skinny king in confusion as he brings his leg back. "How did he get so skinny?"

Rose shudders at the question as she remembers the transformation. "He ate himself and rearranged his bones to make himself skinny…"

Luffy widens his eyes at the statement before he sticks his tongue out in disgust. "Eww, that's-"

Nami cuts him off by whacking him on the head. "What did you do to my jacket?!"

Luffy widens his eyes as he remembers that he tore one of the sleeves off. "Umm..."

Rose gulps at her fury before she places a hand on Nami's shoulder to try calming her down. "Hang on Nami, it wasn't his fault! He used it for the greater good!"

Nami turns to her angrily while she points to Luffy. "I don't care about that! That jacket costs me almost thirty thousand beli! It doesn't have any resale value now!"

Luffy nervously steps back from his angry crewmate. "I'm sorry Nami, but the guy blasted me with a cannon!"

Nami quietly sighs as she turns to him with a calm smile. "It's fine Luffy, I knew that it wouldn't come back in good shape if I lent it to you." A mischievous gleam appears in her eyes as she starts smirking. "You just owe me three times the original price now."

Luffy widens his eyes at the payback. "What?! So that was your plan?!"

Rose chuckles at Nami's plot. *I gotta say I'm impressed.*

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS NONSENSE!"

The three of them turn to Wapol who's pointing to the large doors behind him. "Behind me is a weapon room that only I have the key for! There are more weapons in here than what you can imagine! If I eat those weapons, I'll become the ultimate human weapon!"

Rose widens her eyes in shock. *Wait, did Nami take the key like in the anime?!*

She gets ready to charge him as he reaches for the key on his belt, but he widens his eyes in shock when he couldn't find it.

"WHAT THE HELL?! WHERE'S THE KEY?!" He frantically searches for the key but he couldn't find it anywhere on him.

Rose stops herself then sighs in relief. *That was close, glad I didn't mess that up. It looks like we're reaching the end now.*

Luffy and Wapol stare at each other blankly before Wapol makes a run for it up the stairs. "I STILL HAVE ONE MORE TRICK ANYWAY!"

Luffy widens his eyes at his fleeing opponent before going after him. "HEY, DON'T RUN AWAY! STOP!"

Rose and Nami blink at the chase before Nami takes the key that she stole from Wapol out of her pocket. "So this key was supposed to go to the weapon room? I thought that it was for the treasure room. Too bad…"

Rose raises an eyebrow at the complaint when she realizes that she never saw her take the key. "When did you steal that from Wapol anyway?"

Nami begins to smirk with pride as she stuffs the key back into her pocket. "I have my ways."

Rose nods before she goes after the guys causing Nami to look at her in shock. "Wait, where are you going Rose?!"

Rose doesn't slow down on bit as she looks back at her with a smirk. "There's no way I'm missing the chance to watch a badass fight like this! You start escaping with Sanji, we'll catch up!"

Nami widens her eyes at her enthusiasm as she watches her run up the stairs. *She isn't fazed by any of this at all. Is she really just a runaway?*

"Nami- swan, are you alright?" Nami turns around to see Sanji crawling up to her.

"I'm ok Sanji, Luffy's taking care of the weirdo."

"What about Rose-chan?"

"She went to watch the fight."

"What?! Shit, what should we do?"

"I think those two can take care of themselves. We should focus on escaping before the hag comes back."

Sanji slowly nods while Nami wraps an arm around his shoulders. He happily smiles at the sideways hug as he wraps his arms around her so that she can take him out of the castle with her.

Wapol grits his teeth in rage as he continues running through the snow covered hallways with Luffy in pursuit.

"Stop running and face me!"

Wapol looks back to see Luffy not giving up then he slips on the snow. "Dammit!" He gets up and continues running until he reaches the highest room in the castle. "I'll never forgive them! I'll teach you all how to respect a king!"

He runs into the room where there's a large item at the center that's hidden under a sheet. He rushes to the sheet and pulls it off to reveal a large cannon. "Hahahaha! Behold the Royal Drum 7 Cannon!"

Just as he aims the cannon at the doorway Luffy runs in. "There you are! I'm going to kick your ass!"

Wapol could only smirk as he readies the cannon. "You're the one who's going to be beaten! Just die!"

Luffy widens his eyes as he braces himself for the cannon fire, but the only thing that he was met with was silence.

Wapol's eyes practically popped out of his sockets in shock before he tried to fire the cannon again, but he was met with the same result. Before either of them can react, a family of snowbirds hop out of the cannon.

Wapol runs over to the mouth of the cannon to see that there's a nest inside. "What the?! A birds nest?!"

Luffy chuckled at the bird that hopped onto the top of the cannon. "So there were more birds here."

A tick mark grows on the king's face as he glares at the bird on the cannon. "How dare you insult me you filthy bird?! Don't you know that I'm a king?!"

Before he can hit the bird Luffy runs up to him and grabs him by the face. "That's enough of this crap!"

Wapol tried to pull his hand away from his face but it was no use.

A smirk grew on the pirate's face as he pulled him closer. "I don't care if you're a king or a god. I don't care about what kind of person you are either. Cause I'm a pirate!"

Wapol widens his eyes as he keeps trying to pull his hand away from his face. "You don't care that I'm a king?! Ha, you're so wrong kid! Drum Empire is a member of the World Government! If you hurt me then you'll become the World Government's enemy!"

Luffy keeps a strong hold on his face as he narrows his eyes. "I've already told you that I don't care! This is a fight!"

Wapol widens his eyes at the statement. "You fool! You're better off dead!" He opens his mouth as wide as he can to try to eat him but Luffy's fingers stretched over his mouth to stop him from taking a bite out of him.

"Shishishi, just try and eat me."

"How about you eat this! Munch Munch Mouth Cannon!" A cannon came out of his mouth and was aimed directly at Luffy causing the pirate's eyes to widen.

"There's a cannon in your mouth?!"

Rose runs to the doorway and widens her eyes at the sight when Wapol fires the cannon, but Luffy dodges at the last second so the cannon ball starts coming at her.

"Holy shit!" She runs out of the way just when the cannon blasts through everything in its path.

Wapol smirks at the destruction while not noticing that he missed his target. "Hahaha, that's what you get for underestimating me!"

He stops laughing when he felt a rubber hand on his shoulder. "It looks like you're the one who's underestimating me!"

Rose looks through the hole in the wall to see Wapol turn back in shock to see that the cannon didn't scratch him.

*Yea, kick his ass!* Rose couldn't help but grin in excitement as she watches Luffy wind his arms up around Wapol's shoulders.

Wapol tries to get out of his hold but it was too strong. "Hey, what are you doing?! Let me go!"

Luffy ignores his protests as he gets ready. "GUM GUM SLINGSHOT!" He managed to send Wapol spinning before he sent him flying head first through the ceiling and was stuck mid way.

"Whoa!"

Luffy stops himself when he heard Rose's voice then notices that she's been watching the fight then grins at her. "Hey Rose, can you fly me onto the roof?"

"My pleasure!" She lifts him up with her wind then sends him flying out of the window and onto the roof.

She tries to fly after him to watch, but her wind wasn't working. *Dammit, I guess it was a fluke before.*

She sits up on the windowsill while facing the room and grabs on the edges to lean back and watch Wapol glaring at the pirate flag that's still standing on another tower.

He widens his eyes in fright when he sees Luffy smirking down at him while cracking his knuckles. "A person that's not prepared to risk his life doesn't have a right to mess with pirate flags!"

Wapol struggles to get out of the roof but he was completely stuck while Luffy pulls his arms as far back as he can. He looks at the pirate in utter horror before pleading for mercy. "Wait, if you let me go, I'll give you a position in my government!"

Luffy ignores the offer as he keeps pulling his arm back. "Gum Gum…"

Chopper watches the fight from outside in awe with Dr. Kureha after he defeated Chessmarimo. "Doctorine, Drum Island…"

Dr. Kureha nods as she watches the scene with a smirk. "The empire lost to the pirate's flag."

Wapol tears up as he watches Luffy pull his arms forward. "Wait, I'll make you the heir to the throne!"

Luffy continues to ignore him as he pulls his arms forward and punches him as hard as he can with both arms to send him flying off the island. "BAZOOKA!"

Rose widened her eyes at the rubble that started tumbling towards her from the attack before she pulled herself inside to dodge. Once she knew that she was safe she started laughing. "Hahaha, that was awesome!" *I'd better get downstairs to meet with the others.*

She runs out of the castle to see Chopper 'hiding' behind a tree while Dr. Kureha relaxes as she watches Usopp pushing Zoro out of the lift station.

Zoro groans in frustration as he pushes Usopp away from him. "Quit pushing me!"

Usopp stays hidden behind Zoro as he looks around nervously. "I'm just trying to support you."

"If you're that scared then just wait at the lift with the others."

"Who says I'm scared?!"

"Hey guys!" Usopp jumps in shock at Rose's voice as she walks up to them.

Once Usopp saw that it was Rose, he calmed down. "Don't scare me like-"

"YAAAH!" All three of them look up in shock to see Luffy slingshot himself towards them.

Zoro looks at him in utter shock. "What the hell's he doing?!"

Usopp widens his eyes in horror when he sees Luffy angrily falling towards them. "Why's he mad?!"

"I think he thinks that Zoro's a soldier, because of the jacket." Rose says as she blasts wind out of her hands to stop Luffy just before he crashes into them, and then drops him into the snow.

Dr. Kureha sweat drops at the view but remains silent as she watches the scene unfold.

Luffy sits up and brushes himself off before tilting his head in confusion. "Zoro? Usopp?" Once he realized that there wasn't an enemy around he started smiling. "For a second there I thought you were with that fake pirate because of the jacket."

Usopp and Zoro sweat drop at the explanation while Rose giggles just before Luffy turns to Usopp. "So you came here to see us? I thought you couldn't hike Usopp?"

Usopp calms down then smirks. "Are you kidding? There's no way a little mountain like this can stop me."

Vivi walks out of the lift station after hearing Luffy's voice then walks up to him "We made it here through the lift. Are Nami and Sanji alright?"

Luffy nods with a toothy grin as he ignores Usopp's lie. "Yup, they're both doing fine."

Vivi nods with a relaxed smile. "That's good to hear."

Zoro turns to Luffy in confusion. "What were you doing up at the top of the castle?"

"I chased that stupid king away."

"The thing that just flew was Wapol?!" Everyone turns to Dalton to see him weakly walking out of the lift station. "What about the two henchmen that were with him?!"

Luffy grins. "Oh, them? The reindeer took care of them." He turns to the others with an excited grin on his face. "Oh yea guys, we got a new crewmember!"

Usopp quirks an eyebrow in confusion. "Really?! Where is he?"

"He's over there!" Luffy points out to a nearby tree where Chopper is trying to hide.

Dalton looks at him in shock. *Blue nose…*

He widens his eyes when he remembers that he's the one that Dr. Hiruluk was looking after before he passed. *So he's fighting for us then. Just as Dr. Hiruluk had…*

He softly smiles at the reindeer before he bows on his hands and knees to everyone. "Thank you all so much. I promise that from now on Drum Island will become a better country."

Everyone stayed silent at his thanks when the rest of the villagers that came with them ran out of the lift station then spotted Chopper.

"Whoa, what's that?!"

"What kind of a creature is that?!"

"Is that a reindeer?! No, it's a monster!"

Chopper stiffens at the stares when he sees some of them pointing their guns at him.

Dalton looks at them in shock before going in front of them. "DON'T DO ANYTHING TO HIM!"

"But Dalton, he's a monster!"

Zoro widens his eyes when he starts feeling a blast of hot air then turns to the source to see Rose glaring at the villagers while getting her wind ready. "KNOCK IT OFF YOU-"

"AAAH! IT'S A MONSTER!" She freezes when she hears Usopp yelling then turns to Chopper to see him look at everyone in fright before he runs away with tears in his eyes.

Luffy drops at Chopper's fleeing before he whacks Usopp on the head. "You idiot! He's the new crewmember I was talking about!"

Usopp looks at him in shock. "What did you say?!"

Luffy ignores the question and runs after Chopper again.

Usopp can only stare at his leaving form as he tries to wrap his head around having a humanoid reindeer in his crew. "He really wants a monster to-?!"

"Usopp…" The sniper starts tensing up when he felt hot air blowing behind him. He slowly turns around to see Rose cracking her knuckles while giving him one of the scariest glares he's ever seen. "Want to know what a real monster does when she's pissed?"

Usopp gulped at the glare before he received a punch to the face, then was suddenly floating by a gust of hot air, and flipped head first into a pile of snow. Rose ignores everyone's shock as she runs off to go after Chopper.

Usopp tries pulling his face out of the snow while yelling out for help, but he's stuck.

Vivi widens her eyes at Rose's anger before pulling Usopp out of the snow. "Are you ok Usopp?"

Usopp spits the snow he got in his mouth out before he nods and rubs his aching nose. "Remind me not to call people monsters around her. At least my body got a little warm from her hot air."

Vivi widens her eyes at the statement when Dr. Kureha speaks up. "Everyone."

The villagers stiffen up when they see Dr. Kureha smirking at them. "Dr. Kureha!"

The doctor points her thumb to the castle behind her while keeping up her smirk. "For those of you that are ok, take the people that are hurt inside. And that means everyone ok?"

The villagers quickly nod as they take Dalton and whoever else was hurt inside.

Nami and Sanji watch the scene from behind a wall near the entrance then sit down to hide from the doctor.

Sanji smokes his cigarette while he ignores the pain in his back before he whispers to Nami. "I don't know Nami. I think we should let her keep treating us."

Nami shakes her head. "No way, we have to leave now. We already wasted too much time here. You want Vivi to stop worrying about her country right?"

"You know, when I said that everyone needs to go inside…"

Nami and Sanji stiffen at Dr. Kureha's voice from behind the wall before she kicks a hole through it just above their heads. "THAT INCLUDES YOU TOO!"

"AAAH!" Nami and Sanji jump back in terror before Dr. Kureha brings them back to the infirmary. As everyone else goes inside, Usopp stays outside to build a snowman while Zoro keeps guard for anymore soldiers.

"AAAH!" The villagers and Vivi shudder at the sound of Sanji's screams while Dr. Kureha is treating his back injuries while waiting in the next room with Nami and Dalton who are resting in bed after they were treated.

Once she completed her treatment, Sanji collapsed from the pain while Dr. Kureha walked out while drinking a bottle of rum. "Just as I thought, his injuries got worse from overdoing it."

She looked down at Dalton with a smirk. "Hey Dalton, do you know where the key to the weapon room is?"

Dalton quirks an eyebrow at the question. "Why do you need it?"

She turns away from him before she takes a swig from her alcohol. "It's none of your business."

Dalton sighs before sitting up. "Sorry, but Wapol carries the key with him. My best bet is that it flew off with him."

Dr. Kureha places the bottle down before sighing. "Really? Too bad."

Nami widens her eyes as she remembers that she stole the key before grinning. "Hey doctor, just so you know I'm not going to be paying you for the treatment. Also, can you let us leave so we can continue our journey now?"

Dr. Kureha widens her eyes at the statement before narrowing her eyes at her. "Are you kidding? I'm going to be taking all the treasure on your ship as payment. And you're going to be staying here for three days."

Vivi nods in agreement. "She's right Nami. You need to stay here until you're all better."

Nami shakes her head with a smile. "I'm all better now. I promise that I'm not lying. But…" She reaches into her pocket and shows Dr. Kureha the key to the weapons room with a smirk "You need the key to the weapon room right?"

Dalton looks at the key in utter shock. "That's the key! How did you get it?"

Dr. Kureha looks at Dalton in shock then back at Nami. "You stole that key from him?"

Nami nods. "Yup, it's the real deal. So how about making this the payment and letting us leave?"

Dr. Kureha narrows her eyes at the deal. "You're very brave to negotiate with me. You're not a good little girl at all."

Nami giggles at the insult as she dangles the key in front of her. "So that's a no then?"

"I didn't say that." She takes the key and starts making her way to the door. "I'll take this key as a payment for all of your medical expenses. However, as a doctor I can't let you leave until you're completely healed."

Nami widens her eyes in shock. "What?! Just give me back the key then!"

Dr. Kureha ignores her patient's complaining as she reaches the doorway then turns back to them. "Listen to me, I have things that I need to take care of downstairs. I'm going to leave this door open. In the closet there are some of my jackets and there's no one else going to be in the room but you guys. I managed to treat the blonde's injuries as well. Under no circumstances are you allowed to run away from here. Those of you that aren't injured follow me."

The villagers jolt at the command before they reluctantly follow her out of the room to help her, and leave the only ones in the room to be Vivi, Nami and Dalton.

Nami quirks an eyebrow at Dr. Kureha's statement. "I get the feeling that she wants us to take her jackets, take Sanji, and get out of here."

Vivi slowly nods. "That's what I heard too."

Dalton nods before he falls asleep.

Nami gets out of the bed and grabs a long black jacket from the closet. "By the way Vivi, what happened to the others?"

"Usopp and Zoro are outside while Luffy and Rose are out looking for the reindeer."

Nami blinks in surprise. "Oh really?"

"Yes, what's the story with the reindeer?"

"He's a doctor that was trained under Dr. Kureha. Luffy wants him to join the crew. Rose seems to have become friends with him too."

Vivi nods in agreement. "You're right about that. She got so mad at Usopp for calling him a monster that she punched him and slammed him into the snow."

Nami widens her eyes at that. "She did?"

"Yes, she was even mad enough to make hot air blow out of her."

Nami looks at her in shock. "She can do that?!"

Vivi slowly nods as she gets up with a sad look on her face. "Yes, I believe her power is starting to show her emotions when they're strong through the different temperatures in her wind. The way she became so furious after he and the villagers insulted the reindeer though… It was like she was a completely different person…"

Nami blinks in surprise before she looks out the window to see the snow falling under the evening sky. *When she was listening to Dr. Kureha's story she had a sad look on her face too. Does her past relate to Chopper's in any way?*

She shakes her head before heading to the door leading to Sanji's room. "We all have scars from our past. We shouldn't dig too deep into it if she's not ready to talk about it. Let's get Sanji and meet with the others."

Vivi widens her eyes at the statement before she follows Nami into the next room to help her bring the cook out. She wraps her arm around Sanji's waist on one side while Nami grabs his side from the other side in order to drag him out of the castle.

Rose continues to run around the mountain top in search for the blue nosed reindeer under the cold night sky. "Doc, where are you?! It's ok, no one's going to hurt you!"

She keeps searching for him until she looks up at the moon lit sky and spots a pair of antlers on the roof. "There he is!"

She starts running to get to the castle when her wind suddenly picks her up causing her to stumble before she regained her balance.

"Again?!" She face palms at how her powers are acting before she tiredly sighs. "At least this will get me up there faster." She focuses her wind to fly up to the roof then flies up next to the reindeer that's focused on the full moon. "There you are."

"Aah!" Chopper jumps back in shock before he widens his eyes at the flying girl. "You can fly?!"

She nods as she crosses her legs to make it look like she's sitting on a gust of wind. "Yup, though half the time my wind has a mind of it's own."

Chopper blinks in surprise before he looks at her with stars in his eyes. "Wow! Can you get me flying?!"

She nods as she focuses her wind to lift him up a few inches in the air.

The doctor happily smiles at the new experience as he kick his legs in mid air. "This is really cool!"

He blinks in surprise when he feels that the wind's temperature compared to how it was before. "It's weird though, your wind's not warm like before."

She quirks an eyebrow at the comment as she gently puts him down. "It's not?"

He shakes his head. "No, it's the same as the rest of the air."

Rose tilts her head in thought as she tries to figure out this new side of her powers. *Hmm, when the wind was warm I was really happy about the news that my marks are going to disappear. Maybe it's something to do with my emotions.*

She quietly sighs in frustration at the newfound ability. *Great, the last thing I need is some kind of mood breeze…*

Chopper looks at her frustration with concern in his eyes. "Are you ok?"

She snaps out of her thoughts then nods as she lands next to him and sits down. "Yea, I'm fine. Are you though? Those villagers were real jerks back there."

Chopper slowly nods with a sad look on his face. "Yea, I'm ok…"

Rose looks at him softly when they hear Luffy's voice. "HEY CHOPPER, WHERE ARE YOU?!"

The two of them look down at the front of the castle to see Luffy calling out to him. "COME ON CHOPPER! JOIN MY CREW!"

Usopp sighs as he works on his snowman. "Give it up Luffy, he just keeps running away."

Zoro nods as he watches his captain call out to the reindeer. "He might not want to be a pirate you know?"

Luffy turns to his first mate in shock. "How can you know that?! I want him in my crew!"

"THAT'S ONLY YOUR DECISION!"

Rose notices Chopper looking down at them softly because he really does want to join, but he's scared of saying yes.

The wind girl quietly sighs at her conflicted emotions as she looks down at the stubborn captain. "You know, Luffy's pretty stubborn. He won't stop just because he can't find you."

Chopper widens his eyes at that before he shakes his head. *No, I can't join them! I really can't!*

"CHOPPER! JOIN MY CREW!"

Chopper freezes at the command and looks down at the pirates sadly. "I can't join them. I don't belong."

"Who said?"

Chopper widens his eyes at the question then turns to Rose to see her getting up and gently smiling at him. "Who makes up rules like you can't belong somewhere? If you want to go with them then you should. If you don't then it's your call. I should get going, it looks like the crew's leaving soon. Thanks again for everything doc, and don't worry I won't tell the others where you are."

She starts heading towards the edge of the roof before Chopper grabs her pants.

Rose blinks in surprise as she looks down at him. "What's the matter?"

"Can I come down with you? If he's as persistent as you said then I should confront him."

Rose nods at the request before she picks him up and gets ready to jump off the roof. "Ok, you asked for it. Let's go!"

She jumps off the roof with the poor reindeer screaming in terror. "AAAAH!"

Zoro, Usopp and Luffy widen their eyes at the sight of Rose falling off the roof with Chopper clutching onto her for dear life. Before they can hit the ground Rose takes a deep breath and blows a strong gust of wind right below them to soften the landing.

Chopper looks at her in utter horror as he catches his breath. "Please don't do that again…"

Rose nods as she sets him down before she rubs the back of her head sheepishly. "Sorry about that. I'll be more careful."

Luffy laughs at the fall before he goes up to Chopper. "There you are Chopper! You showed yourself so that you can join my crew right?!"

Once Chopper calmed down he looked at Luffy nervously before he lowered his head. "I can't…"

Luffy looks at him in shock. "Why can't you? The life of a pirate is really fun!"

Usopp looks at him in disbelief. "I don't think that's the point…"

Nami, Vivi and Sanji make it outside while Chopper keeps his head down and continues. "I only came down to thank you for all your help…"

The three of them watched the exchange with the others when Chopper raises his head to show the sadness in his eyes. "Please listen to me! I'm a reindeer! I have hooves, horns and a blue nose!"

Rose and Nami look at him softly as he continues with tears in his eyes. "The truth is, I want to be a pirate, but I'm not human! I'm a monster! I can't be friends with humans! I only came here to thank you!"

He starts calming down as he looks back to the castle that's been his home for a long time. "Just to thank you for asking me. But, I plan to stay here and learn more. If you guys want to visit you're more than-"

"SHUT UP!" Chopper widens his eyes when he sees Luffy raising his arms up. "JOIN MY CREW!"

Chopper tears return to his eyes when he sees that he won't give up on him because he doesn't care about what he looks like, he still wants to be his friend. Everyone else softly smiles at him to show that they accept him as well as he yells back at Luffy. "OK, I'LL JOIN YOU!"

TO BE CONTINUED